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DECISION No.65/1998/QD-TTg OF MARCH 24, 1998 ON THE EXPORT OF WOOD PRODUCTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS, AND THE IMPORT OF RAW MATERIAL WOOD AND FOREST PRODUCTS

THE PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government of September 30, 1992;

Pursuant to the Law on Forest Protection and Development of August 19, 1991;

At the proposals of localities, units and production establishments after the issuance of Decision No.1124/1997/QD/TTg of December 25, 1997;

At the proposals of the Minster of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Minister of Trade and the General Director of the General Department of Customs,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- In this Decision, the following terms shall be construed as follows:

1. Finished wood products mean wood products are wood products manufactures through technological processes, which have a definite use value, are ready for daily use, but cannot be used as raw materials for further processing into different products.

2. Products details are constituent parts of finished products.

3. Fine art wood products are finished wood products manufactured by hand or machine or by hand combined with machine, which are finished through techniques of chiseling, carving, engraving, inlaying, latching, and surface-decorated with lacquer, gilt or varnish of various kinds.

4. Artificial board of various kinds are plywood, pressed board, particle board, fiberboard, assembled board, where or not surface covered or decorated.

5. Timber of Group I.A, and Group II.A are precious and rare timber from natural forests of Groups I.A and II.A on the list of plants issued together with Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

6. Timber of groups from I to 8 are timber of various categories from natural forests, and classified according to their quality; the list of classified timber is issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

7. Timber from planted forests are timber of various categories, exploited from forests planted with various funding sources, including liquidated rubber tree wood, garden wood and wood from scatteredly planted trees.

8. Imported raw material wood are wood imported in the forms of log, sawn timber, artificial boards of various kinds, reused wood from containers of imported goods.

9. Lawful sources of timber are sources of imported timber and domestic timber, which are allowed by competent level(s) to import ,to exploit and use.

Article 2.- Wood products from lawful timber sources, which are eligible for export, include:

1. Fine-art wood products processed from natural forest timber (excluding those of Group I.A), imported timber of various kinds and planted forest timber, which include the following types:

1.1. Lacquer products.

1.2. Wood statues of various kinds, products made of tree stocks or roots.

1.3. Wood pictures of various kinds: engravings, wood pictures inlaid with mother-of-pearl, wood mosaics, wood furniture marquetry...

1.4. Wood products for decoration, souvenir or advertisement purpose such as mugs, cups, plates, trays, spoons, fans, pots, vases, bows, swords, vase bases, lamp stands, wooden clogs, ancestral tablets, bead mats, bead strings, cases of various kinds, badges, symbols, emblems, painting frames, picture frames, fine art cornices, fine art sails of various kinds, decoration blinds, racks for fine art articles.

1.5. Musical instruments, children's toys, badminton rackets, tennis rackets, table tennis bats, billiard cues, shepherds' sticks, shoehorns, artificial limbs, wood-handle umbrellas, umbrella handles, wood-handle brooms, paint brush handles.

1.6. Tables and chairs, beds and wardrobes of various kinds, terra-cotta seats and writing desks, high and narrow tables, tea-tables, cupboards, clock cases, mirrow wardrobes, altars, high-grade cabinets, high-quality coffins. All these products must be made through chiseling, carving, engraving, lacquer inlay or these decorating methods combined together.

1.7. Fine art wood products made together with cane, rattan, bamboo of various species or other materials.

2. Finished products made of artificial boards from various sources.

3. Finished wood products made of planted-forest timber or imported timber.

4. Product details made of imported timber or planted-forest timber.

5. Packing products made of planted forest timber or imported forest timber.

6. Sawn wood and semi-finished products made of planted-forest timber and imported timber.

7. Products made of cane, rattan, bamboo of various species or other materials in combination with planted-forest timber, imported timber or domestic natural forest timber of from Group 3 to Group 8.

8. Wood chips particles, peeled veneers, artificial boards, assembled wood (assembled boards, assembled slats), made of planted-forest timber or imported timber.

9. Apart from products allowed to be exported as defined in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 above, newly arising products shall be reported by enterprises to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development which shall submit to the Prime Minister for decision.

The above-mentioned export products are permitted to be disassembled when exported.

Article 3.- Forest products of other kinds: All forest products of other kinds may be processed for export, except for forest products of Group I.A stipulated in Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government).

Article 4.- The export of wood products of foreign-invested enterprises shall have to comply with the provisions of their investment licenses already granted, and they shall be allowed to use planted-forest timber as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 5, for the production of export products.

Article 5.- Regulations on the management of raw material wood and forest products for the production of export products:

1. Natural forest timber:

1.1. Domestic natural forest timber shall only be used for the production of fine-art wood products as provided for in Clause I, Article 2, and products defined in Clause 7, Article 2 of this Decision.

1.2. Annually, basing itself on the natural forest timber exploitation quota assigned by the Prime Minister and after balancing the domestic production and consumption demand and the fine-art wood product processing capacity, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall submit to the Prime Minister for ratification the domestic natural forest timber quota for the production of export fine-art wood products.

On the basis of the approved quota of natural forest timber to be used for the production of export fine-art wood products, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall allocate natural forest timber quotas to ministries, branches and People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, which are involved in the production of fine-art wood products for export. On that basis, the concerned ministers and presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall allocate specific wood quotas to enterprises and units, which are under their respective management and directly engaged in the fine-art wood product manufacture and business, including foreign-invested enterprises.

1.3. The bordergate customs offices shall base themselves on the list mentioned in Article 2 of this Decision and the wood quotas allocated by ministers or presidents of the provincial People's Committees to complete the procedures for the export of fine-art wood products.

1.4. Papers proving the lawful origin of timber required for the completion of export procedures:

If the domestic natural forest timber is used, a written certification of the lawful sources of timber by the ranger department of the locality where the finished products are made must be submitted to the bordergate customs office(s).

The dossier required for the certification by the ranger department of the locality where the finished products are made includes:

- The timber record certified by the ranger department of the locality where the timber is sold or the report on the inspection by the ranger department of the locality where the timber is sold.

- Payment invoice issued by the Ministry of Finance.

- For timber of Group II.A under Decree No.18-HDBT of January 17, 1992 of the Council of Ministers (now the Government) and timber of Group I and Group II on the list of classified timber issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, a special transportation permit issued by the ranger department of the locality where the timber is sold or the copy thereof is also required.

Particularly for products made of artificial boards, the written certification of the timber origin is not required but the trading contract and the payment invoice issued by the Ministry of Finance shall be submitted to the bordergate customs office(s) for export procedures clearance.

2. Planted forest timber:

Papers required for the completion of the export procedures include: If the export products are made of planted forest timber, a written certification of the planted forest timber by the ranger department of the locality where such planted forests exist should be submitted to the bordergate customs office(s).

3. Imported raw material timber and forest products:

3.1. Enterprises of all economic sectors having export-import business registration certificates shall be entitled to import raw material timber and forest products of various kinds in service of their production and business.

3.2. Imported log, sawn timber and forest products and export wood products and forest products made of imported raw material timber and forest products shall be entitled to the lowest tax rate(s) in the current import tax bracket.

The Ministry of Finance shall adjust the import tax rates for timber and forest products so as to encourage the import of raw material timber and forest products.

3.3. Basing themselves on the written certification of the lawful sources of the timber and forest products which have been permitted to be imported by the bordergate customs office(s) and cleared of the import procedures and on the written certification by ranger departments, the bordergate customs offices shall complete the procedures for the export of products made of imported timber or forest products.

Particularly for the imported artificial boards and rubber tree timber, written certifications by ranger departments are not required, but the trading contracts and the payment invoices issued by the Ministry of Finance must be submitted to the bordergate customs offices for the completion of the export procedures.

3.4. Wood imported from Cambodia shall be subject to the separate regulation of the Prime Minister.

4. Other forest products: The bordergate customs offices shall base themselves on the provisions in Article 3 of this Decision to fill the export procedures.

5. Raw material consumption norms: The norm-setting council of an enterprise shall set the norms for the consumption of raw material wood and forest products in the production of export wood products of its respective enterprise. The director of the enterprise shall take responsibility before law for the practicality and accuracy of the norm setting.

The director of the provincial/municipal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development shall guide and inspect the setting of norms for raw material wood and forest product consumption in the production of export products by enterprises.

Article 6.- Implementation provisions:

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall coordinate with the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government and concerned branches in inspecting the timber exploitation, preventing illegal exploitation, inspecting the production and export of wood products and forest products in strict accordance with the provisions of this Decision.

2. The ministries, centrally run branches and the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall send quarterly reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the export of wood products and forest products as well as the import of raw material timber and forest products so that the latter can make a sum-up and report to the Prime Minister thereon.

3. The processing of wood products, the temporary import for re-export, the cross-border transport and transit of wood products and forest products shall comply with the State's current regulations on processing, temporary import for re-export, cross-border transport and transit and shall not be subject to this Decision.

4. This Decision takes effect 15 days after its signing and replaces Decision No.1124/1997/QD-TTg of December 25, 1997 of the Prime Minister.

All previous stipulations which are contrary to this Decision are hereby annulled.

5. The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government shall have to implement this Decision.

The Prime Minister

PHAN VAN KHAI